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Monday, June 11, 2012

Strict Dedication To My Laundry Rule

Yes, yes, yes, I meant to have a post ready to go up this *morning*, and here it is in the last hours of the day and the post is still a half-finished draft. What gives? No time for writing, that's what! My weekend was jam-packed with family events, sleep deprivation, and illness, and then today we had a midday outing that caused nap time (a.k.a. post-writing time) to be missed.

Now it is almost 11:00 p.m., the kids are finally all asleep, Tyson has just left for work, and I could spend some time finishing the post. But something else is standing in my way. It's a load of laundry that just came out of the dryer. I have a strict laundry rule that I try my best to adhere to, ever since I read the suggestion on FlyLady's website a few years ago (at least I think it was there). The rule?

Never start a load of laundryunless you're going to see it all the way through

"Doing the laundry" doesn't just mean throwing the load in the wash and forgetting about it until it turns sour and needs to be re-washed (or set fire to). It doesn't mean remembering to put it in the dryer and turn on the machine, but then leaving the dried load in there so long it gets completely wrinkled and requires extra ironing, wrinkle release, another damp-dry cycle, or even rewashing. It means doing all the steps, one after another, at the right time, in the right order:

1- Sort

2- Wash

3- Dry

4- Fold/Hang

5- Put Away

Right now I have a load teetering between steps 3 and 4, and I must get to it. And to my accompanying re-run of Dancing With the Stars (my ideal and favorite laundry-folding entertainment).

What's your laundry M.O.? Do you have "Laundry Day" one day a week, and get it all done at once? Do you do a load a day? Do you do it whenever? Do you send your laundry out, or do it at the laundromat? The laundromat seems like no fun at first, but it has its virtues; you can do so many loads of laundry all at once! I need to make a trip there to wash my queen-sized comforter in one of the large-capacity washers. Maybe I'll haul the rest of my laundry over there at the same time. What do you like to do while you fold clothes? What detergent do you use? I always, always think everyone else's laundry smells better than mine, but I don't know if that's really true or if I'm just so used to the smell of my own clean laundry (which does smell good...don't get any weird ideas). Ahh, laundry...I could go on and on...just like laundry does...forever...and ever...and ever...

17 comments:

Going on a trip is usually about the only thing that motivates me to get going on the laundry (that and running out of under-ware). I'll go through a day or two of non-stop loads until it's almost done(you're never completely finished) right before we leave on a trip. (The bad part then of course, is when you get home with oodles of the stuff needing to be washed again!) The whole load-a-day thing has never worked for me. Would probably help if the T.V. was on the same floor as the laundry. You wouldn't think it would be that hard to interrupt an episode of American Idol to go up the stairs and change the laundry through, but I tellya what, somehow it really is.

I always felt so good knowing I'd get several loads washed and dried. Then it sits in baskets unfolded let alone put away. I tell myself it's a mess, but at least it's clean. So lately I've been thinking I need some type of strict adherence to a laundry rule. Ta da...here it is. I'm scared! I think I can I think I can..

Now that I've read your last paragraph...I prefer to fold laundry while watching TV or a movie. But then I feel like I can't fold unless I have time to watch TV, hence the baskets of unfolded laundry all over my living room. I'm weird about multi-tasking...

Internalizing this rule has really helped me, so I hope it helps you too! I totally hear you on only wanting to fold when I also have the time and ability to sit down in front of the TV. My occasional compromise is that when clothes get done in the dryer I take them out immediately and lay them flat, one piece on top of another, and throw all the socks, washcloths, and other small miscellaneous items in a basket. That way things don't get wrinkled and I can save the actual folding for a couple hours later when I know I will have time to sit down and "multi-task". Ah, multi-tasking. I absolutely cannot eat by myself unless I have reading material of some sort (computer, book, cereal box). Not really productive multi-tasking...more of a compulsion :)